The invention relates to a fender made of plastic for motor vehicles.
Plastic fenders are known, for example, from DE-A-3 007 760. In practice, screws, similar to those used for steel sheet fenders, are used to attach the plastic fenders. The screws allow easy replacement of the fenders. One feature of the plastic fenders is that when heated they expand significantly more than their steel sheet counterparts.
In order for thermal expansion in plastic fenders not to lead to twisting and undesirable deformation, the connection between the fender and body is made such that the fender can move relative to the body. The attachments of the fender to the body are shaped so that one side is rigidly fixed to the body, while the other sides can move. An attachment of this type can be made so that the openings for admitting the screws in the fender are enlarged vis-a-vis the shaft diameter of the screws or are made as an elongated hole. In practice, the side of the fender facing the vehicle doors is generally rigidly attached so that the expansion of the elongated fender is possible only in the direction away from the side doors to the front or to the back. Accordingly the elongated holes for admitting the screws in the upper edge area of the fender also extend in this direction. The attachment openings in the area of the fender facing away from the doors, for a front fender the forward edge area, must be made analogously to this. While movable fixing of the upper edge area of the fender does not entail any additional problems, since the gap between the fender and a flap which connects it to the center of the vehicle remains roughly the same, in practice movement of the forward edge area (here and also for the following description a front fender is always assumed) causes more difficulties. Specifically, several parts, for example a front part and a headlight, connect to the forward edge areas of the fender. If at this point the fender expends to the front, to some extent it is not flush vis-a-vis these parts; optically this is as unattractive as if there were correspondingly large gaps for compensating for this movement.